At the end of the article, there is a quote from a Democratic strategist, named Bob Beckel. The quote is in regards to Van Jone's past, and maybe present, political views. Beckel questions how Jones got the job in the first place, and then goes on to say the following:

He's got every right in the world to be a self-avowed communist, but the Secret Service would no more allow a self-avowed communist into the White House as they would Charlie Manson, so that's what I don't get.

It is this statement that I have serious questions about.

Beckel states in the article that the Obama administration had obviously failed with their background check and predicts Jones will be ousted by Labor Day, which considering his political views, may be considered ironic. What I disagree with, and find troubling, is that there is this belief that a certain political ideology is inherently evil, or destructive to our system, and must therefore not exist within our system. Our system, proponents of this belief argue, was not founded on those principles (and you could go even further considering The Communist Manifesto was written 72 years after our Declaration of Independance) , and therefore our current system must continue to exclude those beliefs, but then by virtue, or curent system should exclude many other ideologies. If the secret service would not allow a communist into the White House, then what would occur if the nation elected a communist presidential candidate, or any other party, considering they had previously ran candidates from 1924 - 1932? More importantly, what could stop a person from one political party to run under the banner of another political party?

Although I do not agree with the tenets of communism, I would believe that this curent attack on political beliefs, going as far as calling for people's resignation based on their political beliefs, to be dangerous to our system. Conservative pundits like to remind the public that many South American communist dictators were elected democratically, but they fail to mention the safeguards provided by our constitution. In order for a extreme left agenda to be put into place, the communists would have to take over the legislative, judicial, and the executive branches simultaneously. What is going on now is very much like the McCarthy-era witch hunts. Considering the animosity directed towards the Obama administration coming from the right, what will prevent the Republicans from declaring certain Democratic opponents as "communist", to try and force them out of government. By attacking the general nature of our system is an attack on our system, and is subversive, as opposed to the conspiracy theories circulating that the communists have been hard at work for over a century, trying to convert America into a communist nation, infiltrating popular political parties to push their liberal agendas.

The same goes for conservatives. One could argue that ultra-conservatives have hijacked the party, pushing their agenda using terrorist-based fear, and attacking political opponents who get in their way. The actions taken by the conservatives are slightly reminiscint of the communist revolution that had taken place in Russia in the beginning of last century. turn on any Fox News program or conservative news program, and you will be certain to here the commentators claim they speak for the majority. During the Russian revolution, the two main parties became known as the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, which was taken from Russian words translating to "majority" and "minority" respectively. The Bolsheviks were the minority, much like the Republicans are now, but their name suggests otherwise. It is these tactics that are questionable. I can argue that the majority of Americans support the Reform Party, but there is no supporting information, much like current conservative claims.

Rhetoric that calls for the expulsion of a certain ideology from government can be very dangerous. Republicans can gain seats next election, but if they succeed in bullying opponents out of position of power, through means other then by fair elections (not to be confused with the negative connotations conservatives place on the word "fair"), the integrity of the entire system will be endangered.